Chapter 152
After Yao Chunnuan and other generals led their troops to her for a brief handover, they returned to Xinyichun to take charge of the work.
In autumn, it is harvest season in Yichun Military Village.
Compared to the southwestern region, which was severely affected by drought and suffered a significant decline in grain production, Yichun was blessed by God and suffered only a mild drought. Yichun's entire grain production declined by only 10% to 20%, and the people of Yichun were grateful for this.
The Yichun military settlements, however, have seen a significant boost in grain production thanks to scientific planting and management. Furthermore, Yao Chunnuan and others considered the impact of drought when planning summer crops, planting mostly drought-resistant varieties. As a result, grain production remains normal, a remarkable feat.
When almost all other types of grains such as wheat, rice, beans, etc. have been harvested, it is finally time to dig sweet potatoes.
In the seventy-acre sweet potato field, by late autumn, the sweet potato vines spreading on the ground seemed to have been drained of nutrients and were very dry. All the sweet potato vines were not wasted. They were all cut into bundles and sent back to the military settlement's drying yard to be made into green fodder, which was then stored in the warehouse and used to feed livestock in winter.
The sweet potatoes are planted in rows on ridges. Now it is harvest season and the soil on the ridges has cracked, revealing the red sweet potatoes inside.
At first glance, there are many cracks on the ridges, which represents a good sweet potato harvest!
Following Yao Chunnuan's order, the soldiers began digging.
The sweet potatoes from seventy acres of land were dug out and piled up into a mountain.
After digging, it took a lot of time just to weigh the potatoes, but the final result came out. They harvested a total of 200,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes, with an output of more than 2,800 kilograms per mu.
Upon hearing this yield, all the people involved in digging sweet potatoes except Yao Chunnuan took their breath away. Even though some of them had experienced it once in the summer, they still couldn't help but marvel at it. A sweet potato yield of two to three thousand kilograms per acre is really a treasure.
Wu Zongguan was calculating. With these 200,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes, if they planted 2,000 mu of land at the beginning of next year, they could harvest 4 to 5 million kilograms of sweet potatoes in the summer. In other words, from the second half of next year onward, Xinyichun would have no shortage of food! They could also feed more people, and the general would have the capital to recruit more soldiers.
"Tomorrow is the day to deliver food to the general. Are the supplies ready?" asked Chief Steward Wu.
Yao Chunnuan nodded. "Don't worry, Manager Wu! We'll send six pigs and six sheep tomorrow, plus some freshly made tofu and some vegetables. This is enough for two days, and we'll definitely deliver it all." They sent a batch of grain, and the vegetables and meat were delivered every two or three days. Because the weather wasn't hot right now, it was still cool, and meat still wouldn't keep well. So, every two or three days, they had to send a few pigs, sheep, and some vegetables to Xinyichun.
"Well, the general and his men are fighting on the front line, so we must do a good job of logistics."
The harvest in Yichun Military Village is a good one. This is really exciting news. Due to the drought this year, the price of grain has been raised very high by merchants who have no grain.
Yao Chunnuan, following her original plan, would wait until the grain had dried before distributing it to the residents of the former Yichun military settlement to calculate their work points. After the conquest of Yichun's main city and surrounding towns, the work point system was no longer applicable. It was no longer needed to foster a sense of belonging among the residents. Furthermore, the system was based on living within one's means, requiring immense computational power, which she couldn't manage alone. Furthermore, as their territory expanded and more and more people joined, the computational workload became too immense.
Merit points still apply, but they require soldiers to complete tasks to earn them. The items in the exchange building are now mainly rare and precious. The exchange building has also suddenly turned to serve the military.
However, before the grain was distributed and work points were settled, thanks to the efforts of people like Yao Chunnuan, the grain production in Yichun did not decrease, and the news of a slightly better harvest spread like wildfire.
This news attracted Chinese people, who could no longer make a living in the local area, to flock to Xin Yichun.
Because having food means a chance to survive! Not to mention that Dr. Ba is also in New Yichun. The current situation in Daliang seems like a chaotic world is about to begin, and in a chaotic world, survival is the top priority.
Yao Chunnuan welcomed all the people who came to Yichun for refuge, knowing full well that population was the most fundamental factor limiting a region's development. She registered and filed these refugees, especially those who had fled famine and were the first to arrive in the new Yichun area.
Yao Chunnuan felt that Yichun was one of the few safe places in Daliang. Their ability to rush to New Yichun so quickly proved their courage and foresight. At the very least, it proved they were fortunate.
The food provided by the Xing family army was a torture for the soldiers in the Yichun camp. When did this torture begin? It started on the second day of the joint defense between the two armies.
Because the next day, their logistics department delivered a few pigs, sheep and some other vegetables to them.
The pigs in the Yichun military camp were well-fed, and when their careers were terminated, they cried out with such high pitch that the soldiers at the Yichun camp thought that the pigs' cry was the most beautiful sound in the world.
They watched helplessly as the other party stabbed the pigs and sheep with their knives, killing them in one fell swoop.
Some of them were busy reminding others not to kill so many animals at once, as the meat would not keep well in the current weather.
But the other party also looked at them in surprise and replied that they had no intention of storing the meat until the next day, as they would eat it immediately after killing the meat.
What? Three pigs and three sheep! They were going to eat that much meat in one day?! And they saw the pigs themselves; they were all big, plump pigs. After they were killed, the fat was almost half the thickness of their middle finger.
The other party ignored them, washed and cut up the slaughtered pig, and carried it into the big kitchen, not even sparing the pig's blood and internal organs.
Soon, the rich aroma of meat wafted out from the big kitchen in their cafeteria. Oh my god, it was so delicious that it would make you hungry to death.
If such food only happened once or twice, it would be fine, but who can stand it if it happened every day?
Originally, the soldiers in the Yichun camp, whose food had improved recently, thought it was good to be able to eat such meals during the war, but with the comparison of the Xing family army, they suddenly felt that the food in their bowls was not delicious anymore.
It was lunchtime again that day. A soldier from the Yichun camp approached a veteran from the Xing Family Army, also eating on the roadside, holding his bowl. Seeing a shiny, tender slice of meat in the other soldier's bowl, he swallowed hard and said, "The food at your Xing Family Army camp is truly excellent."
These days had been enough for them to gain a deep understanding of the Xing family army's food. Just as their Yao Gongcao Lord had said the other day, their staple food was brown rice, coarse flour steamed buns, multi-grain cakes, black flour steamed buns, etc. They were allowed to eat as much as they wanted, but they couldn't waste anything! Previously, Yao Gongcao Lord Yao had said that the Yichun military settlement slaughtered eight pigs and eight adult sheep every day, and they were skeptical. Now they believed it completely.
The veteran soldier of the Xing family army shoveled the meat and rice into his mouth. After he had swallowed the meat, he said with a smile, "Not bad. I was lucky today and got a piece of meat."
The soldiers in the Yichun camp said, "Even without meat, your dishes look greasy and delicious, but they are better than our boiled dishes."
At this moment, another soldier from the Yichun camp squatted down and beat his chest and stamped his feet, "Your logistics are very good, and your superiors are so good to you. Why didn't I go to your Yichun military settlement when I was recruiting? I regret it, I regret it." He was a new recruit who had just joined the Yichun camp years ago. At this moment, he really wished that time could go back to years ago and let him make a new choice.
The veteran soldier of the Xing Family Army looked at the two new recruits with sympathy, thought for a moment, and said comfortingly, "Actually, a year ago, our food was about the same as yours." When did their food start to improve? It seemed that it was after Lord Yao, the Minister of Military Affairs, joined the Shogun's shogunate.
It wasn't long before Marshal Zhu learned that the food at the Xing family's army was appetizing.
What a bunch of useless guys! Marshal Zhu scolded his own soldiers and then scolded Xing Changfeng, Yao Chunnuan and others for being treacherous. Finally, he paid out of his own pocket and asked the logistics department to provide the soldiers with some meat or oil every day.
Di Luo's army
"My lord, it seems that reinforcements have been sent to Yichun." On the first day of the Xing family army's exchange of guards with the Yichun camp, they did not deliberately hide their movements and were finally discovered by the Di Luo army.
Wei Xizhe found it strange. How could Yichun send more troops?
Don't think he doesn't know that Daliang is now in the midst of war. Three of the four directions, east, south, west and north, are at war, not to mention that two kings of different surnames and a great general rebelled a while ago, and there is also constant civil war in its hinterland.
He had studied Chinese history, and they liked to say, "To resist foreign aggression, one must first stabilize the interior." Therefore, he estimated that under these circumstances, the Daliang court would have deployed all available troops to suppress the rebellion. Those in power would always choose to fight a quick battle, stabilize the interior, and then resist foreign aggression. Under such circumstances, the court would likely not send more troops to the border.
The appearance of this reinforcement army to Yichun was very strange, and its origins were hard to guess. Wei Xizhe was very wary of the Xing Family Army led by Xing Changfeng, the commander of the Yichun Military Garrison. He now knew that it was the Xing Family Army that had taken advantage of the internal strife between the brothers to invade the Diluo tribe and rob them, and it was also the Xing Family Army that had captured the Diluo people who were foraging as prisoners.
Because Xing Changfeng deliberately did not show up, Wei Xizhe did not know that the newly added army was the Xing family army.
Even Wei Xizhe hadn't expected the reinforcements to come from the Xing Clan Army led by Xing Changfeng. In his mind, it was impossible for the two to join forces at this point. The Chinese were quite fond of internal strife, so the two sides should be as hostile as fire and water. Although fighting hadn't broken out yet, it was simply because the timing wasn't right. When the time came, either the Xing Clan Army would launch a surprise attack on the Yichun camp, or the Yichun camp and the army sent to suppress the rebellion would attack the Xing Clan Army from both sides.
"Tomorrow, we will switch our main force to attacking the upper city gate."
Wei Xizhe was in a heavy mood. They had attacked the city three times in a row but had not gained any advantage. This time, the soldiers of the Yichun camp were unexpectedly tenacious.
Ever since the first day of their unsuccessful campaign, the Beidi tribe seemed to be cursed, their forward momentum being curbed by the enemy. Compared with previous years, their fortunes were very bad.
Originally, many members of their Beidi tribe died after suffering from drought for more than half a year. In addition, they lost more than 10,000 young and strong people while hunting for food. Now Yichun has sent more troops, and the enemy is becoming increasingly difficult to defeat.
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